Walter Buchignani: Mercedes pulling away as F1 hits Europe

British Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton races his Mercedes during the second practice session ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. Hamilton has won three of the four races so far this season.SRDJAN SUKI / EPA

However you look at it, this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix marks the beginning of the European portion of the Formula One calendar after four races in far-flung lands. Many see it as the true launch of the championship campaign because teams now get to settle in at their factory headquarters and focus on fine-tuning their cars after weeks of gruelling travel.

It’s when engineers, mechanics and strategists take stock of their early successes and failures, iron out the wrinkles, bolt on new car parts and plan upgrades in the long race for F1 supremacy.

All 11 teams are based in Europe — most in Britain — and now they get to enjoy the comforts of home for the next four-plus months and eight of nine Grands Prix, from Barcelona on Sunday to Monza, Italy, on Sept. 7. The notable exception — bonjour, Montréal! — is a quick hop across the Atlantic for the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve on June 8.

In theory, the long European stand gives early season laggards lots of time to get their programs back on track and close the gap to the front-runners before embarking on another set of fly-away races to end the season, with the finale in Abu Dhabi on Nov. 23.

The fear, though, is it might already be too late.

Let’s face it: Based on the evidence of the four races so far, no team seems anywhere near ready to mount a credible challenge to the runaway duo of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg at Mercedes.

Though the temptation is to play down the importance of those non-Euro events, the points awarded to the winners are real — and the Mercedes pair took all four victories, including three in a row for Hamilton. Not only that, after triumphing in the opener in Australia, Rosberg finished second behind his teammate every other time, making the domination by Mercedes complete, or nearly so. The only hiccup happened when Hamilton was forced out in the early laps of the Melbourne race with an engine failure; otherwise, Mercedes’s lock on the top two steps of the podium has yet to come under threat.

Hamilton’s DNF explains why he trails his teammate in the drivers’ standings despite his trio of wins, with 75 points to Rosberg’s 79. Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso is next with a meagre 41.

For the constructors’ title, the disparity is greater still. Mercedes has 154 points, while Red Bull is second-best with 57. Next is Force India with 54, followed by Ferrari with 52.

In qualifying, it’s been all Mercedes, too, with Hamilton earning three pole positions and Rosberg the other.

Bottom line: If the others hope to dig themselves out of the deep hole in which they already find themselves, now’s a good time to start.

This weekend, all teams are promising to introduce upgrades to their cars at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, and the question is whether any will make a big enough difference.

One small sign of hope emerged from the Red Bull camp this week when engine partner Renault reported “promising” progress with its power units after a difficult start to the season for defending four-time champion Sebastian Vettel. But most eyes will turn to Alonso as the Spaniard will want to put on a good show in front of his home crowd after his surprise third-place finish at the last Grand Prix, in China, giving Ferrari its first podium of 2014.

Alas, during a news conference, Alonso played down expectations of a repeat podium on Sunday.

“We cannot start the weekend thinking to be on the podium or thinking to win the race,” he said. “That will be creating wrong and false targets to everyone who will come here.”

After all, while other squads try to improve their cars, so too will the folks at Mercedes. The team’s stated goal for Spain is not just to maintain its advantage, but to increase it.

“We have already seen that our rivals are relentless in their efforts to close the gap,” Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff warned in a team preview, trying to muster a sense of urgency.

Right. Get real. The time sheets show little reason for Wolff to be losing sleep over the rate at which rivals have been eating away at Mercedes’s lead.

For the record, here are the time deficits between the first- and third-place finishers at the last three events: Malaysia, 24.534 seconds. Bahrain, 24.067 seconds. China, 23.604 seconds.

Maybe, when you’re that far ahead, you can allow yourself the luxury to sweat the small stuff.

On the Tube: Live coverage of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix airs Saturday at 7:55 a.m. on TSN and RDS. Race coverage airs Sunday at 7:55 a.m. on both networks.

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